Thinking of joining WW again...cost issues
 

I'm thinking of officially joining WW again, now that my life is a little less hectic. But finances are EXTREMELY tight right now, and that is what worries me. I'm a single parent, and irregularly work from home selling stuff on craigslist / ebay.

I used to do meetings, but now there are no meetings locations on my side of our large city. So I know with the travel time and my daughter, meetings consistently are out. Plus the monthly pass is $$$!

I'm looking at Online - but what exactly is the difference between Online & just E-tools? Would it work to go to 1 meeting, get the week 1 booklet and an e-tools code, and then just do e-tools? E-tools is a little bit cheaper than Online it looks like.

I'm also wanting to do the new ActiveLink, which seems to require either e-tools or Online. How much is ActiveLink to buy? A friend told me $30, but it looks like online it's $40 - is it cheaper at a center?

Active Link is $40 to buy plus an extra $5 a month. I may be wrong but I think you need to have a monthly subscription to use the Active Link as well as the etools.

You could do one meeting and get some of the materials, then get more info elsewhere online. I think several people here do that, so they can probably offer you more advice.

I could be dead wrong about this but I think there is no difference between eTools and WW Online - at least in the online features and tools. But, I don't think you can get eTools without paying for meetings membership.

I'm guessing that somehow WW links eTools to your meetings membership - so that if you stop going to (and paying for meetings), they would halt your etools account -- but I'm not sure. This is what I think you might be asking about??? You could probably call WW and ask if you can keep eTools without going to meetings - or if that would automatically convert your membership to WW Online.

I think the WW Online membership is pretty reasonably priced. (That is what I use.) I've been using the Active Link about 2 weeks now and am a bit disappointed (but I'm still trying to learn how best to use it). I think I'll give it another 2 weeks. If it doesn't grow on me, I'll ditch it for a Fit Bit which after the initial purchase, I can use and monitor for free. (I did have a Fit Bit before - but I think I killed it in the washing machine.)

I use WW Online and it's around $19 a month. However, the WW site is chock full of bugs right now. I honestly cannot recommend it. The only reason I'm staying is because of my circle of friends there. Otherwise, I'd be bailing out.

What kind of bugs?

I really liked the online tracker last time I did WW - made it much easier. If anyone knows a place online with a similar program that does points, I'm all ears.

I did find out that I might be able to get my insurance to pay for 10 weeks of WW meetings - thinking about doing that to get started. I'd have to go across town and bring along my 6 year old dd, but hey it's 10 weeks free.

The tracker hasn't been working reliably. Sometimes, you can't post blogs. I've been unable to access my 2012 blogs since the beginning of the year and WW hasn't done squat about it despite multiple reports. I'm not the only one having this particular issue. Navigation is unreliable. The food database for points goes wonky from time to time. Sometimes, you click links and nothing happens or it takes you to the wrong place. Stuff like that.

I don't know of another site that uses points. However, there are free sites that count calories that are far more reliable. I use My Fitness Pal. WW was great to get me started on my weight loss efforts but now? Meh. The problems with the website are pushing me away.

If you have a smart phone, I recommend getting an app. Points Plus Diary has a great food library, a barcode scanner, etc. and it's only $1.99. My husband and I have used apps only and have both lost over 20 pounds each in a few months. If it works for you, you'll be saving a lot of money!

I also have an app. that I got for my Iphone called iTrackBites that only cost a few dollars. It has a great food library, you can calculate your points and record your daily food intake as long as weight loss goals and recording of weight! I don't like the idea of active link and I am looking at getting Fitbit Zip which cost $60 or a little cheaper from Ebay :-) with no monthly additional cost!

I use Ultimate Value Diary, it is a bit higher at $3.99, but I love it! I have used it since Easter and it has been worth every penny! It has a scanner, a big food database, which includes restaurants, brand name foods, and generic foods, and a calculator. It also allows you to track your weight loss and set a goal. I was at the point of buying etools, but instead found out about the app and I am so glad I bought it!!

Does this app feature a way to calculate your daily points?

If money is seriously that tight, check out free options like Sparkpeople, Daily Plate, My Fitness Pal, etc.

Have you tried using My Fitness Pal to track cals/activity? It's free! I really like it, MFP combined with the wonderful support of 3FC sounds about the same as weight watchers to me, minus the expense!

Yes it does! It isn't 100% accurate, but for me it's only off by a point. When you first use it it asks you your date of birth, sex, height, and weight. It also gives you your 49 weekly points and calculates your activity points. And if you are looking on your phone without the app being open it has your remaining points for the day left showing. Oh and you can tell it what day your week starts on. I weigh in on Thursday's, so I made Friday my day 1.

There really isn't one thing I can complain about with this app. Honestly it isn't visually that great, but it does its job and gives me everything my paper tracker did.

I like WWDiary, free for android phones though not sure about iphones. It does calculate your daily points on old plan and points plus and you can track your weight and activity on there too. No food database though, you will have to do it manually to get points or use the scanner feature but you only have to do that once and it will be saved for the next time.

Good luck!

I sure wish I had a smartphone to use those lovely apps, but alas I have a cheapie old style phone.

I did however today after much digging, find my Points Plus materials. I have the Calculator, the Pocket guide, and the getting started book. In looking in the summary of WW programs, it says the new 360 program is just Points Plus with added behavioral stuff. Is it worth going to a meeting to get the new materials, or will my old Points Plus stuff be okay with the new 360 plan?

Yes, your old PP+ stuff will be just fine and I cannot say whether or not if it is worth going since I haven't "upgraded" to the 360. I'm just on the old PP+.

This may explain it a lot better than I can, probably the same thing you read about 360.

The way I was explained it, 360 is the online version and the meetings are really just points plus and they talk about the behavior during the meetings. I may be wrong in that, but that's what I kind of got about the explanation at my meetings.

Using WW on my own-
 

I joined WW 8 years ago and lost 37lbs in 6 months. Needless to say, I gained ALL the weight back +20lbs! My husband told me I should count the points but I thought I could do it on my own. I was WRONG.

A friend decided to do WW online and another friend was promoting Body by Vi. I had changed jobs and did not want to spend the $$ on weight loss and wanted to PROVE that you could lose the weight without spending the $$.

I started January 1, 2013 and lost 25lbs (and 2 pants sizes) so far. I had the WW points finder, Food Companion Book and I created a chart with my points on it that I can write on with a dry erase marker. I don't write down everything I eat, but I put parenthesis around the points I use.

I began exercising 20 minutes a day and I am up to an hour a day including walking, cycling and Tae Bo.

I still have 30 lbs to lose but I think I proved my point. It is within me to lose the weight. I set up systems in place to be accountable. I have proven that you can lose weight without spending money.

FYI- you can print a WW points tracker FREE online and I found a WW Food Companion Book at the Goodwill for $1.00. You can also buy it online for less than $5.00.

360 is not just the online version. The whole program is 360. The meetings discuss all aspects, just like they cover online. The difference with the meetings is that you can ask questions interactively, get and give face to face support, and weigh in officially by their staff.

dakotamidnight - Yes, you can count with all of those materials. No points changed from PP to 360. It's just got added lifestyle changes.

geekmadre: Many thanks for that tip on the Diary App. Just downloaded it. Looks very comprehensive. I absolutely LOVE IT!!!!

Not having the same problems
 

I don't use anything but e-tools on WW online to track my eating and I have not had any problems lately. I prefer etools to Myfitnesspal because I find it much easier to use. I like the WW program better than just counting calories. I like weekly points and being able to enter things easily when you know the points of it, also a lot of the information on MFP is in US standard measurement and metric. On myfitnesspal I would look up something I ate and there would be a bunch of choices but it would all be in grams and not tsp and cups. That's also what I didn't like about Sparkpeople. They had so many entries of the same thing that it would be hard to find what you were looking for.

I wanted to add, I am very poor. My husband and I make a lot less than 20,000 a year and we have a son but I can still afford WW online. Of course it is good to explore the free options first.

A lot of the problems with the website have settled down in the last few weeks. I've also found a way to access my 2012 blogs. (Click on the little down arrow instead of the link.) So, I'm more settled again at WW.

I hear you, JessicaB84, about the points. The thought of counting calories when I started just did not make past the antics and panics of my lizard brain. But somehow, points did. Also, I've made some really good friends in the blog community at WW.